Fishing report 1-18-16

FISHING REPORT 1/18/2016

GREAT NEWS – the ice didn’t get pushed off of Cisco Beach and so that has allowed anglers to catch Cisco off of the ice yesterday! This is a great trend and it looks like now that the ice is holding up and the Cisco are starting to come to the shore. Today would be a great day to get up or get out and go and catch your limit! Be careful and don’t get in water deeper than 6’. They will come in just take your axe and your Cisco net and enjoy this Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday celebration with a bang!
The Pump House as well as the West Side down closer to the Rest Area have been AWESOME fishing. The ice is plenty thick at now close to 4” but I still wouldn’t take out anything motorized yet. You don’t have to walk far so do just that…WALK! The depths are still in the 21’-32’ range and not only could you catch your limit of Cisco but catch whitefish, cutthroats, and lake trout as well. Same scenario as before but I would add some Swedish Pimples to my list of lures you would want to be using. 3”-8” tube jigs are also a great thing and once you have caught your live Cisco use that on that other pole to set up for a big trout while you are using your other pole to keep catching Cisco. Those guys that were using the big tubes were still even catching whitefish on them…got to love this time of year!

If you want to bring your boat, make sure it is a small boat, and make sure that you have your quagga muscle certificate filled out and your access from the Stake Parks as well, and try launching off of Spinnaker Point. The ice off of the Rockpile doesn’t look favorable though so take your chances if you want to. I recommend not doing that just bring the equipment to ice fish.
Read below for Scotts report and for the Laketown and Garden City Pond Report!

I am open today until 3-4pm. I only have 3 Cisco nets left for the season. I have everything else you need as well as augers and all the lures and tube jigs. I also rent the hand augers if you don’t want to buy them. Cost for the hand auger rental is $15 a day.
GOOD LUCK ALL AND SEND ME YOUR WONDERFUL PICTURES…LOVE TO SEE THEM
Darin Pugmire
Pugstones Sporting
435-757-9430

Bear Lake keeps trying to freeze over but the wind keeps playing havoc with those attempts. There is still some open water on the lake, but the only place anglers can now launch a boat is from shore near the Gus Rich Point area. They are accessing the Rockpile from this location from boats. The rest of the lake is ice covered and ice anglers are doing very well for Cutthroat Trout, Whitefish and Lake Trout. Ice thickness varies from 2-5”, but the south end of the lake has the best ice conditions with 4-6” of ice. Fishing off the weed beds in 17-30 feet of water south of Gus Rich Point and along the east side at the pump house and First Point has been the best spots. They are catching limits of Cisco along these weed beds and off the pump house. Use jigging spoons such as Kastmasters for snagging Cisco. You can catch whitefish using small jigs and ice flies. Tip your lure with a small piece of worm, wax worm or salmon egg. Larger jigs tipped with Cisco, worms or sucker meat are working the best for the trout. Please remember, all Cutthroat Trout that are caught and don’t have a healed fin clip must be released.

As far as the Cisco run goes, today was the first day that anglers we able to dip net some Cisco along Cisco Beach. The ice in this location is about 2-3” thick, but in areas it is shelved-up. We did not see any limits of fish dipped and the Cisco are typically skittish at the beginning of the run. If you are coming up on the holiday to dip net Cisco, bring something to chop a hole and preferably waders or waterproof rubber boots. Also, it is wise to bring a fishing rod with either a spoon or large jig without a hook to attract the fish into the net. Remember to pay close attention to the daily limit of 30 fish. This will be strictly enforced.

The annual Cisco Disco is scheduled for Saturday, January 23rd and there will also be a Polar Plunge, biggest Cisco contest, and chili cook off at the Utah State Park marina later in the morning.

Garden City Community Fishery Pond:

The pond is frozen at this time and the ice is up to 8” thick. Fishing has been excellent for Rainbow Trout using an ice fly and small jigs tipped with worms or meal worms. The parking lot has been plowed. It is a great place to take kids and beginners to learn how to ice fish.

Laketown Reservoir:

Laketown Reservoir is also frozen at this time and the ice is about 8” thick. Ice fishing has been good for Rainbow Trout and a few Cutthroat Trout using small jigs or ice flies tipped with a worm or meal worm. Access to this reservoir is only by 4-wheel drive vehicles due to snow and if there is another large snowfall, so you may need a snowmobile or snowshoes to hike in to this water.